Bitzer was born January 1, 1934, and was an American electrical engineer and computer scientist. He was co-inventor of the flat-panel plasma display and the “father of PLATO,” the world’s earliest time-shared, computer-based education system and home to one of the world’s most pioneering online communities.
Bitzer studied electrical engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), obtaining a PhD in 1960. Following graduation, he joined the UIUC faculty, where he learned of efforts to bring lessons to students over a closed-circuit television network. While a committee of engineers, psychologists, and educators were unable to agree on a single solution at the time, Bitzer wrote up a proposal within a week, got it approved, and immediately started developing his PLATO system for the university’s groundbreaking ILLIAC I computer—the first electronic digital stored program computer built by a university. (PLATO stands for Programmed Logic for Automated Teaching Operations).
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I had the pleasure of working with Dr. Bitzer for a few years at NC State. I have never met such a personality whose accomplishments impacted our world. His personal stories spanned being a professional wrestler, world class musician and electrical engineer. Some of his accomplishments were developing the cable modem, plasma TV, military software used to win the war in Iraq and PLATO.
He passed on December 10th, 2024.
David DeGerolamo
How fortunate to have been able to know and interact with such a person.